Medical apparatus have been disclosed and are in use today to take over and/or to supplement the action of the heart to effect the pumping of blood into the vascular system. One particularly well known type of apparatus is the so-called "heart-lung" machine. All prior art apparatus for effecting heart pumping action are necessarily complex and expensive. Most significantly such prior art devices are not suitable for general or widespread usage. In this connection, prior art devices invariably require the services of skilled medical personnel, e.g., surgeons, under stringent surgical conditions for effecting the placement, connection and operation of the devices. Accordingly, prior art blood pumping apparatus have not been deemed suitable for general or emergency usage to supplement or replace pumping action of a person's heart. Therefore the need exists to provide apparatus to supplement or replace the pumping action of the heart when a person/animal is undergoing or has just undergone a heart attack or when the person's/animal's heart is otherwise failing and conventional pumping apparatus is not suitable.